Under Center with SMC QB Troy Williams
Half way through the third quarter of the Santa Monica College's bowl game on Nov. 21, the Corsairs lead 63-0 and the win was inevitable. SMC starting quarterback, Troy Williams was taken out of the game after throwing seven touchdown passes through two and a half quarters, putting an exclamation point on one of the best Corsair football seasons ever and pushing Troy Williams back into the national spotlight.
After being a two-time City Section player of the year while playing for Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Troy Williams was one of the nations top recruits going into collegiate football. Coming out of high school, rated as the number one dual-threat quarterback by Rivals.com, Troy had a handful of colleges looking to make him their prized recruit. When it came down to making his decision , Troy chose to take his talents up to the University of Washington.
"I felt a real good connection with coach Sark [Steve Sarkisian], you know, there was a lot of former players from Narbonne," said Troy Williams. "I hung out with those guys a lot; it was like a home away from home."
After sitting out his entire first season by redshirting, he came into his second year with a lot of hope to become the UW starter; however, the coach that recruited him initially, Steve Sarkisian, took the head coaching job at USC and new Washington head coach Chris Peterson was not as fond of Williams as Sarkisian.
"After coach Sark left, I felt like I didn't really have no one there to have my back, coach Peterson didn't recruit me out of high school," said Williams. "I tried to make the best of it, but things just didn't work out."
Once the realization set in that his playing time was going to be scarce, Williams had to make a decision, continue fighting for the starting quarterback spot at the University of Washington or transfer elsewhere to try and earn the starting spot elsewhere. He eventually decided the best decision was to join his former high school offensive coordinator, current Santa Monica College Corsairs offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub.
"I talked to coach Kaub, he told me to wet it out, see how it goes and if it continues to go on, you know you have a home here, with me, in Santa Monica," said Williams. "I didn't want to pass up the opportunity, come play with coach Kaub again, especially after all the success we had back at Narbonne."
Offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub was definitely excited to coach Troy again, it's the quarterback he has worked with more than any other in his coaching career.
"With private training and coaching, I have coached over 30 division one quarterbacks," said Kaub. "He's the only quarterback I've had for five years and relationship wise, I look at him almost as a little brother. I've watched him grow from an awkward eighth grader into a man over the last seven years."
The trust between the two were evident throughout the 2015 SMC football season, one in which Troy lead Kaub's offense into becoming the number one offense in the entire state. After dominating performances from Williams, eventually an offer came that Troy couldn't turn down, Pac-12 member, University of Utah.
"Utah really wanted me. They got a great team and I'll be able to play," said Williams. "I'll also get a chance to show those that doubted me, they made the wrong decision."
Tim Kaub is very proud of what Williams has done with a quarterback that is as special as Williams. "At the end of the day, he could play at any college and he is a Pac-12 caliber quarterback and is a national level recruit both times," said Kaub. "I have yet to come across a guy as competitive as him, who wants to win more and a guy that just has the coolness that he has in a game. His calmness in the moment, as far as games goes, is simply unparalleled. I was proud, I was happy that he came to us and it worked out for him; he's back where he belongs."
Troy will have a large task ahead of him when he becomes the Utah Utes starting quarterback next year. Some time during the next season, William's former team, the University of Washington will be traveling to Utah to take on Williams' new team and coach Kaub believes people should have high hopes.
Kaub perfectly phrased it, on William's approach to being the Utah quarterback. "Me and him have some very similar character traits, we both take things personally and we both really, really badly want to beat those people that doubted us."